By Samson Kukwa Yanor
Playwright Abdul-Rasheed Na’Allah’s Omokewu is a delicate blend of creative entertainment and subtle Islamic evangelism.
Set in Nigeria’s North Central city of Ilorin, Na’Allah has dexterously deployed English, Arabic and Yoruba languages in a successful propagation of his Islamic religion in his eight Act play in an entertaining everyday parlance.
The play opens with Amadu waking up his children Omokewu and his siblings for the subhii salat (morning) prayer and his exhortation that “only a child of hell-fire sleeps away at salat. Wake your younger ones for ablution. You must form the habit of getting up by yourself to observe the early morning subhii salat. It’s the pokii child whose feet would not hit the ground to the mosque whenever the ladani announces al-salat khairun minannaomi. Salat prayer is a better reward than sleep!” (22)
The religious tone of the story is set right from the very first opening line by the Dudu group praying at the top of their voices to attract attention for Ramadan offerings by passers-by, Iyami la illa! Illa Allah! translated as “my mother there is no one but Allah” (17). And with the theme of Islamic preachment set, the playwright successfully takes his audience through the subtleties of Islam in a creatively delicate balance devoid of monotony and drudgery.
Na’Allah owes much of the success of Omokewu to his dexterity in the use of language. He manipulates English, Yoruba and Arabic in a relaxed every-day Nigerian parlance. This adept deployment of multi- lingual diction is especially evident in songs like Mama Hakeem’s Eid al Mubarak prayer for the children “May God Almighty increase His mercies on you…may you become rich persons, pious persons, great human beings. You will go on pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina. May you continue to be children who never disobey their father and mother, and God. May Allah make you persons who will ride in your own cars and planes. May Allah accept my prayers, in his name, and in the name of our leader, Prophet Muhammed!” (49). The juxtaposition of ‘God’ and ‘Allah’ is noticeable, yet only adds to the effectiveness of the rendition. This effortless blend of language is also found on pages 54, 56, and 63 etc.
It must however be noted that in Na’Allah’s deployment of language in Omokewu, it is not necessarily the use of language for language sake. The English language is deployed in the actual story telling. Most of the songs are executed in Yoruba. It is also decipherable that most of the proverbs and idiomatic expressions are a direct translation from the Yoruba language while the Arabic is derived from the Qu’ran and effectively used in the sermonisations. For instance, “the Dudu group are seen finishing their tarawi in their Dudu clay-Mosque. Everyone is seen counting tesuba – prayer beads – as a sign that the salat is completed” (35). Or this prayer by the gathering of adherents to hear the preaching of Aliamamu the Islamic cleric. “Subhanallah Alhamdulilah (Thanks are due to Allah). Allahu Akbar (God is Great). Wala haola wala kuwata (and neither good nor bad can happen) etc (43)
The story itself is conveyed in a rich mix of Yoruba proverbs and idioms. “The snail cannot choose what shell it has on it’s back” (18). “Many of us are children of the elderly ones, we only borrow the elders parables” (19). “If a child is not smart and hunger attacks his stomach, he learns smartness without delay!
Hunger is the god of the child!” (23). “The saying is true that, when the cloud forms, it is unwise to predict where it’ll empty its water!” (40). The occurrence of Yoruba idioms and parables is most prominent in the conversation between Saratu and her daughter Alhaja.
Saratu: Alhaja, no one knows I’m here. Esuu and Morenike don’t know I’m here. I wanted to be like the person who secretly comes and secretly leaves…Oh, what the rat keeps in the cave, the cat digs out.
Alhaja: How can the elephant enter the forest without the trees and the shrubs knowing? Where will the sun hide if it doesn’t want the sky to see its light? (61)
According to B.N Igbokwe “Language is power as well as a great instrument for cultural preservation” (144). Richness of language and command of same however, is the vehicle the playwright has used in conveying his main thematic pre-occupation of Islamic evangelization. Ironically, Omokewu is not a religious book, nor does it come across to the reader as one. It is a play with all the accoutrement of a good story, like any other good play. Just like Wole Soyinka’s The Trial of Brother Jero (1963) or Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s I will Marry When I Want (1970) cannot be said to be Christian religious books or African traditional religious books.
In opting for his theme, Abdul-Rasheed Na’Allah has perhaps only elected to exercise his literary franchise of free choice in serving his creative menu. Religious books are never fiction. Omokewu is fictional and as such cannot pass for one, its religious theme notwithstanding. Nevertheless as R. Vervliet and Annemarie Estor have pointed out; “in literature, the past may be (re) constructed in various ways and in very diverse forms” (72). Though not the secular religious book, in Omokewu, Na’Allah may have succeeded in reaching a far larger audience with his poignant depiction of Islam in his reconstruction than many a secular religious book or preacher can ever hope to.
Samson Kukwa Yanor is a PhD candidate, department of English and Literary Studies, University of Abuja